Had [Jim Webb] or any one of the 60 Democrats insisted that the Administration get Republican votes, or drop the bill's worst provisions, history would have been very different.

A second irony is that Democrats only had those 60 Senate votes because of a series of improbable and corrupt events. Mr. Webb won his race by a hair in 2006 after incumbent George Allen stupidly uttered the word "macaca," and the media portrayed him as racist. Alaska's Ted Stevens lost his seat in 2008 by 3,724 votes after he was convicted eight days before the election in a trial in which the Justice Department withheld crucial evidence. He was later exonerated. And Al Franken, who was trailing on Election Day, managed to steal the Minnesota recount in 2008 by 312 votes from a hapless Norm Coleman....

History... had you remembered those 3 incidents and the fact that all 3 were required to produce the 60 votes that allowed the Democrats to inflict Obamacare on us?

And it may be that if it never passed Obama would have been reelected. But Obamacare also provides a rallying point for all people who are freemarket in orientation. It will give something for Obama to pull on as over half the pulic is against Obamacare, and the other half will be too if he just spells out in the debates that it will mean 3000 years of expensive litigation ahead.

Yet, somehow Republicans and the Tea Party are off the hook for muscling in two of the worst candidate seen in any Senate race in Sharron Angel and Christine "I'm not a Witch" O'Donnell. And Harry Reid was VERY beatable in that election.

Yet, somehow Republicans and the Tea Party are off the hook for muscling in two of the worst candidate seen in any Senate race in Sharron Angel and Christine "I'm not a Witch" O'Donnell. And Harry Reid was VERY beatable in that election.

To the contrary, I believe Obamacare is one of the few really significant achievements of this administration. Were it not for having passed this, we would be looking at a failed presidency. As it is, I and many of the people I know will enthusiastically vote for President Obama.

Allen deserved the loss; Coleman does too, for a different reason. Allen knew he was being tracked and said something stupid. Coleman did not have an effective group of poll watchers who were able to challenge ballots effectively, at least, not at first. There was a site showing ballots that let you decide who got the vote. There were cases where two dots were marked, and the ultimate decider gave the vote to Franken when it was Franken + Random Other Guy, but denied it to Coleman when it was Coleman + Random Other Guy.

In both cases, the ballot should not have been counted. Coleman's team just wasn't ready for the onslaught. Bad politics, but you lose, you learn.

sonicfrog said... Yet, somehow Republicans and the Tea Party are off the hook for muscling in two of the worst candidate seen in any Senate race in Sharron Angel and Christine "I'm not a Witch" O'Donnell. And Harry Reid was VERY beatable in that election

Neither of those races had anything to do with Obamacare which Obama signed on March 24, 2010.

Alinsky's RULE 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.” Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist.

The consequences of Obamacare or an Obama reelection will be annoying, but they won't be catastrophic. People will muddle along with their lives, and the middle class standard of living will be in a slow, progressive decline for a long time.

(If the Second Amendment is intended to be a political safety valve, how bad does it have to get before it kicks in?)

Yet, somehow Republicans and the Tea Party are off the hook for muscling in two of the worst candidate seen in any Senate race...

Let me fix that for you...

Yet, somehow Republicans and the Tea Party managed to re-take the House of Representatives in an historic landslide while eroding the Dems' Senate majority despite losses in a couple of winnable races.

"(If the Second Amendment is intended to be a political safety valve, how bad does it have to get before it kicks in?)"

-- If this is a serious question, it is meant solely as an actual check on physical, political violence when all other means have been exhausted. Not just -losing- at the ballot box, but being denied the chance to even vote. Things would need to be so catastrophically bad that everyone, right, left and center, would agree things had gone too far (what to do -after- we stopped this mythical, non-existent terror would cause some friction, but it would need to be so bad that we were reaching Hitler-levels of unanimous agreement and oppression.)

Yes, we remember. Plus fraudulently passing Obamacare through reconciliation when they lost their 60th Democrat and he was replaced by Scott Brown.

Don't forget that after Ted Kennedy died, Dems in Massachusetts changed the law (again) to allow the governor to appoint a successor to his Senate seat. That successor - Paul Kirk - although he promised not to run in the special election months later, was the 60th vote to break the filibuster against Obamacare on December 23, 2009, one month before Scott Brown was elected.

Ironically, the Dems had originally removed the governor's power to appoint successors to vacated Congressional seats in 2004, in order to prevent Governor Mitt Romney from filling John Kerry's seat with a Republican after Kerry's inevitable victory over George Bush.

"The consequences of Obamacare or an Obama reelection will be annoying, but they won't be catastrophic. People will muddle along with their lives, and the middle class standard of living will be in a slow, progressive decline for a long time."

Very true, for most people.

For others, like the very old and high utilizers, it will be catastrophic.

But like in England, you won't hear about it very much, not for about 30 years or so. And they are just a few compared to the masses, so quite easily ignored.

Mogget, you took the words right out of my mouth. Harriet Miers was laughed out of town, so GWB chose supposedly rock-ribbed conservative Roberts. Miers was a highly unconventional choice, and maybe she wasn't qualified, I don't know for sure, but I bet she wouldn't have wilted like Roberts did.

-- Right, but the point is that the point where violence was acceptable was not merely because someone that is unliked is elected. It takes actual malice and violence, along with the removal of any legitimate means of changing the government. Which is something that, in any foreseeable future (barring some horrendous sudden onset of dystopia), won't be happening in America.

It's kind of sad that Stevens wasn't exonerated until after he died (well, maybe not "exonerated," but at least, all the people who claimed he was being railroaded were proven right.) Unless I have my chronology wrong.

Marshal: Because Castle is well-loved in Delaware and one of the moderate Republicans that could have given Republicans a foothold to make people more comfortable with the Republican brand. Look at Scott Brown: He's not perfect, but he's more reliable than the alternative. That's part of being a national party, sometimes, you get people who aren't perfect fits so you can win on motions and procedural things (like, say, filibusters.)

I had forgotten the first two, but will not forget how the breathlessly righteous ones are "Shameless!" when it comes to aggrandizing their personal power. Integrity is policed only for the other guys.

Al Franken in the Senate speaks for itself: this party leadership will put on any kind of show you dumbasses want, perform any caricature, as long as they gain more power.

the Democratic Party leadership and power-structure struck a Devil's bargain and committed to its Low Road back in the nineties -- suitcases of Chinese cash, etc -- and is now the worst possible expression of itself, a corrupt caricature of its noble self-image. It must be routed and remade, for it's own sake and the sake of a free republic.

I believe Obamacare is one of the few really significant achievements of this administration. Were it not for having passed this, we would be looking at a failed presidency. As it is, I and many of the people I know will enthusiastically vote for President Obama.

I hope you remember those words when they send you home with aspirin instead of a new hip.

"Mr. Obama campaigned on the notion that he would lead a post-partisan Washington... that Democrats and Republicans would finally set partisanship aside under his leadership, and work together to come to a common understanding.

I've checked, and I have to congratulate him. I did find an example where both parties set aside their differences based on his input. When he submitted what he called a 'budget' this year, the Democratically-led Senate and the Republican-led House came together in perfect unity: Not a single person from EITHER party voted in favor of it. His 'leadership' resulted in every single vote in Congress being AGAINST what he proposed.

But I'm sure it's a fluke that no one in his own party was willing to vote for his budget. Oh wait... the Democratically-led Senate did the same thing last year, too.

This is Mr. Obama's idea of economic leadership? Proposing budgets that absolutely no one is willing to vote for?"

You can bet I will remember you having urged me to remember, should your fantasy occur to me. I believe that for a society as wealthy as ours is not to provide a good level of health care for all is shameful.

Don't forget the New Jersey Supreme Court re-writing that state's very clear election laws to allow the Dems to substitute Frank Lautenberg as their senate candidate after the primary voters' preferred and well-established scoundrel, Torricelli, withdrew in disgrace after the deadline for such substitutions. The election turned on the court decision.

I don't live in Minnesota anymore but I think Minnesotans like their clown Senator. Too much cold and ice seems to freeze their brains and produce elected officials like Jesse Ventura and Keith Ellison and Al Franken.

So you think a doctor owes you the sweat of his brow? They have word for that...slavery. So you go back to your government owned home, with your Volt, and sit on your ass while someone else takes care of your bills...